IndiaSpend is the country’s first data journalism initiative. We utilise open data to analyse a range of issues with the broader objective of fostering better governance, transparency and accountability in the Indian government. Founded in late 2011 by Govindraj Ethiraj, a television and print journalist and former Founder Editor-in-Chief of Bloomberg TV India, IndiaSpend is rapidly growing to become an `agency of record’ when it comes to data and facts on the Indian economy, particularly in areas like education and healthcare as well as data on the states of India.

Given the general nature of hard data, not just in India but worldwide, we feel there is a need and an opportunity to focus on critical data that can help the country at large take objective views on important policy issues and foster data-led discussion and analysis. We do believe this will become more important in coming years as citizens become a more active part of the governance process. A twin objective is also to make the use of data exciting and a first recourse for young India, rather than opinion, by utilising various social media sources to reach this population.

In March 2014, we also launched Factchecker.in, a dedicated fact checking initiative that will examine statements and assertions made by those in public life for both accuracy and context.

IndiaSpend is a non-profit and a project of The Spending & Policy Research Foundation located in Lower Parel in Mumbai, and registered as a Charitable Trust with the Charity Commissioner, Mumbai.